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We are so excited to be serving in Malawi. We invite you to take this journey with us. Keep the beautiful people of Malawi in your prayers, and us too.

Friday, December 16, 2016

When Losing Is Winning

In 2012, I wrote an blog called “When Winning is Losing.”The
post was about a time when a few of the boys of Lyzee United Football Club lost
their cool in a tournament and ended up getting into a fight which resulted in
quite a scene where many other teams saw a very bad example of the Gospel.We ended up going back to our house and
talking for a long time about how winning the game at all cost really is not
worth it.Some of the boys stood up to
apologize and reconcile with one another.It was a beautiful moment but a very hard lesson.

Lyzee United FC in 2012

Today I have another story from the same group of boys who
we have poured our lives into over the past 5 ½ years. In that time, the Holy Spirit has moved
mightily and has really transformed several of the boys of Lyzee United. Now, they are no longer little 10-12 year olds. They are young men who are 16-18 years old
and who know how to work hard, love their neighbor and honor the King. From the beginning, our team verse on our
logo is 1 Peter 2:17 which says “Honor
everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear
God. Honor the King.” Here is a
picture of our logo which reads, “Yesu Ndi Mfumu” (Jesus is King).

Lyzee United Football Club logo

These boys are our family.We’ve lost some along the way to sickness and death but the Lord has
been near and has grown up an exceptional core of young men who truly love Him
and care more about the kingdom of God than the trifles of this world.Many of you have knelt on behalf of the
salvation of these young men and we have seen it with our eyes!Jesus has revealed himself to many of them
and beckoned them to come and join his family.

Teaching the boys from God's Word in 2012

On Saturday, we entered into a big soccer tournament in
Malawi for Under-21s.Many of the
nation’s best players were there and ready to wipe the floor with us.There was a good bit of trash-talk coming
from several of the other teams as we arrived and they saw how small we
were.Like I’d mentioned before, the
boys are ages 16-18, so we were certainly the youngest team.But our boys beamed with confidence in Christ
and our captain led the way with setting our minds on things above, “No matter
what happens, let’s represent Jesus today guys!Win or lose, we shake the hands of our opponents and treat them with
utmost respect.”I reminded the boys
that many many non-believers were watching us hoping for us to fail.But God had other plans.

The boys on Saturday

The first whistle sounded and the boys immediately took
complete control of the game.They have
been playing with each other for more than 5 years so they play as one
body.It’s beautiful to watch.Especially when they are so much smaller
than the other teams.We easily won our first match 3-1 and so went
the rest of the matches as we cruised through the group stages into the quarterfinals.By this time, many people were coming up to
me as the coach and saying, ”Wow! Who are these little guys and where do you
come from and why do you do what you do?”I had 4 opportunities to share the WHY we do what we do in the first few
games.The boys were worshipping Christ
on the pitch and I was able to explain and testify to their attitudes and work
ethic and point all those who questioned to the glory of Jesus Christ!“We
love Jesus, we love football, and we love you.”This was our slogan as coaches for the
day as we interacted with many who asked.It was the most God-honoring display of soccer (football) that I’ve ever
been a part of.

We easily won our quarterfinal game and tightly won the
semifinal game, which put us into the final.Everyone gathered to watch our boys fight hard in the final.We have not lost 1 game all year so you can
imagine how much the boys tried to win this one.Blood, mud, sweat and tears were all
present.I’ve never seen them so
exhausted.The game finished 0-0 and we
ended up losing in penalty kicks. I could see the agony in the boy’s
faces.They were drained emotionally,
physically, BUT NOT spiritually!Though
we lost, this was our moment.

In every other tournament that I’ve seen in Malawi, the
losing team always fights the ref or makes a huge scene to try to change the
end result.But, our boys went out of
the way to shake the hands of the other players.They realized that, more than we want to win games, we want to win souls. They shook the hands of the champions and then
took the second place trophy with grace and heads held high.I cannot tell you how much I wanted to
explode with joy as I watched their maturity and heard the things they were
saying.So so much glory being directed
away from themselves and onto Jesus.This is the goal of what we do.Though we lost, we won!And I’m
actually thankful that we lost because this was a God-given opportunity for the
boys to allow the Holy Spirit to work through them.After everything, their disappointment faded
quickly and we got into the minibus and this is what happened…

Video:Yenda Yenda Yenda ndi Yesu (Walk, Walk, walk
with Jesus!)

The whole way home we celebrated!God has a way of meeting us when we press
into him in difficult times.It was the
sweetest celebration I’ve ever experienced in sports and it was straight
worship.Absolute Holy Spirit-given joy
in the midst of loss.Such an amazing
day that I wanted to share with you.I
don’t think many of the boys saw me, but as they sang I wept with tears of joy
to the Lord listening to their worship.Worship that did not align with their circumstances and the outcome of
the tournament but worship that flowed out from hearts that are full of the
love and joy of the Father.In Jesus Christ, even when we lose we can win
because He has already won the battle for us on the cross.He shed his blood for these boys and I got
the blessing of hearing their praises to the King who came to us in the manger.

There is 220 active church-centered sports ministry teams
like Lyzee United all over Malawi who are intentionally and effectively
preaching Christ and making disciples.We are praying that God would raise up more laborers for the harvest
because the fields are ripe!Will you
join us in this?Please let us know if
you will commit to praying for Sports Friends Malawi ministry in 2017.

Here is the link to giving online if God leads you to support this ministry financially:

https://www.simusa.org/give?id=096754-091&dsg=Project

May the Lord continue to bless you with more of Himself over this Christmas holiday! May Jesus be central in your home!